Hydrocarbons are recovered from subterranean formations using wells drilled into the formations, typically completed with metal casing along the length of the wellbore with perforations or sand screens across the formation of interest to allow flow of formation fluids into the wellbore. These perforations may be separated from each other with collapsed formation particles, cement, or packers. It is in many cases desirable to have near uniform production from each completed zone along the wellbore because uneven drainage can result in increased production of undesirable fluids. Additionally it is desirable to have production of undesirable fluids selectively reduced by an autonomous device in the wellbore.
It is known to use flow restriction devices of various configurations to meet these same objectives. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 8,312,931 to Xu et al. and CA 2,816,646 to McNamee et al. Flow restriction devices can be used in a ‘tubing conveyed’, or ‘liner conveyed’ configurations, with or without isolation packers, with or without sand screens.
Flow restriction devices may be used for both injection and production of fluids. Flow restriction devices used in wellbores in production service use orifices, tubes, complex flow paths using changes in inertial direction, and mechanical devices to create the desired flow characteristics that are dependent on fluid properties.
Divergent nozzles (divergent flowpaths) have been used in many applications, including flow restriction devices distributed along the length of a tubing string for steam injection. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,302 to Churchman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,455 to Luke, U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,055 to Chien et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,708,763 to Howard et al. However, they have not been used in flow restriction devices distributed along the length of a production wellbore tubular.
Prior disclosures describe the use of a nozzle with an opening near the throat followed by a divergent section to pump fluids. Nozzles with a divergent section used in this manner are referred to as eductors, ejectors, and thermocompressors in surface applications, and jet pumps in subsurface applications. In previous wellbore-related disclosures and applications the power fluid is injected into the wellbore at high pressure from surface. No prior disclosure or application uses the production fluid flowing into the wellbore tubular through flow restriction devices distributed along the length of the production wellbore tubular as the power fluid for the inflow control device.